The recent earthquake in Delhi & Punjab evoked memories of another earthquake we experienced in 1989.
We were in Patna at that time. By some arcane power, my husband is always far away from the site when any calamity strikes. He escapes the harrowing experiences like earthquake, communal riots,floods etc.How very lucky ! Sad, only I am left to handle the situation. This time too, as usual he was in Bombay.
Dinner over, kids & me settled down in bed with our books. I was troubled, in spite of the soft babble of my children' voices beside me and the stray barking of the street dogs.The silence & solitude was pressing and it seemed like the mind was in anticipation of some approaching danger.
Suddenly there was a rattling sound all around and our bed began to shake as if we were in a small boat. My immediate reaction was to hug my children and they clung to me in fear. Two wall pictures fell, so also the glass of water on the side table. It seemed to be lasting for ever. Within a few seconds I realized that we were experiencing an earthquake!
There was pandemonium all around.My neighbor shouted out to us to come out onto the road. People were on the streets. We came out and another neighbor shouting "bhoochal , bhoochal" was running down the staircase while urging us to follow him. Another person was contemplating jumping from the second floor but fearing the height was hesitating, by which time the earthquake had stopped.Suddenly everyone around started laughing loudly, more to hide their fears.The sight of the man on the parapet wall of the second floor still standing rooted there,created a humorous moment. He himself was laughing to tears.A minister was residing close by and he too had come out of his house. People were singing 'Mantri baahar, kapde andhar' the next day making fun of him.
Realization of near destruction set in and people behaved affectionately with each other (normally at loggerheads.)What a change in our mindset !We were thrilled that we had experienced an earthquake.Our clock had turned upside down and few tiny artifacts had shifted a bit from their place.There was no major damage in our neighborhood, but slowly news began to trickle in, about the devastation it had caused. It was of quite a high magnitude and the epicentre was in Darbhanga, a nearby town in North Bihar. Many people had died, many injured and hundreds of buildings came down.
We realized how fickle life could be. My neighbor also told us of their belief that another earthquake could follow within 24 hours. So that left me sleepless throughout the night.My husband, hearing the news, arrived by the next available flight from Bombay.We were relieved to see him and thanked God for sparing us.
We were in Patna at that time. By some arcane power, my husband is always far away from the site when any calamity strikes. He escapes the harrowing experiences like earthquake, communal riots,floods etc.How very lucky ! Sad, only I am left to handle the situation. This time too, as usual he was in Bombay.
Dinner over, kids & me settled down in bed with our books. I was troubled, in spite of the soft babble of my children' voices beside me and the stray barking of the street dogs.The silence & solitude was pressing and it seemed like the mind was in anticipation of some approaching danger.
Suddenly there was a rattling sound all around and our bed began to shake as if we were in a small boat. My immediate reaction was to hug my children and they clung to me in fear. Two wall pictures fell, so also the glass of water on the side table. It seemed to be lasting for ever. Within a few seconds I realized that we were experiencing an earthquake!
There was pandemonium all around.My neighbor shouted out to us to come out onto the road. People were on the streets. We came out and another neighbor shouting "bhoochal , bhoochal" was running down the staircase while urging us to follow him. Another person was contemplating jumping from the second floor but fearing the height was hesitating, by which time the earthquake had stopped.Suddenly everyone around started laughing loudly, more to hide their fears.The sight of the man on the parapet wall of the second floor still standing rooted there,created a humorous moment. He himself was laughing to tears.A minister was residing close by and he too had come out of his house. People were singing 'Mantri baahar, kapde andhar' the next day making fun of him.
Realization of near destruction set in and people behaved affectionately with each other (normally at loggerheads.)What a change in our mindset !We were thrilled that we had experienced an earthquake.Our clock had turned upside down and few tiny artifacts had shifted a bit from their place.There was no major damage in our neighborhood, but slowly news began to trickle in, about the devastation it had caused. It was of quite a high magnitude and the epicentre was in Darbhanga, a nearby town in North Bihar. Many people had died, many injured and hundreds of buildings came down.
We realized how fickle life could be. My neighbor also told us of their belief that another earthquake could follow within 24 hours. So that left me sleepless throughout the night.My husband, hearing the news, arrived by the next available flight from Bombay.We were relieved to see him and thanked God for sparing us.
